Britain in the 1980s was a polarized nation. Determined to take the country in a radically different direction was the most dominant, commanding, and controversial leader of her age, Margaret Thatcher. With the two main political parties as far apart as at any time since the 1930s, the period was riven by violent confrontation, beginning with the explosion of rioting that rocked England's cities in 1981 and again in 1985; a year-long fight with the...